Midnight Regs, Part 2

. . . Republican lawmakers and independent experts expect more [regulations] to come. But Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas told Roll Call that his party cannot do much because “the framers of the Constitution didn’t give us a lot of tools that didn’t involve a presidential signature to overturn them.”

Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chairman Richard Shelby is watching banking and consumer finance regulations that come under his panel’s purview. “We don’t know what he’s coming with. This president has set a precedent that none of us has seen in recent years,” the Alabama Republican said in an interview. “He’s tried to do everything by regulation rather than legislation.”

To be sure, there are 1,500 proposed rules and regulations in the pipeline, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. That includes over 700 dubbed “economically significant” in the key final stage, and Katz said those are the ones to watch.

Congress is not exactly powerless here. It could pass strict language in budgets, and this is perhaps why Harry Reid is filibustering regular budget bills right now and demanding the usual stopgap omnibus continuing resolution right now. And Congress might just consider reversing the massive delegation of power to the executive branch that has gone unchecked for decades, as the last paragraph in The Hill article makes clear:

Katz said GOP members should look in the mirror when searching for who to blame.

“Many regulations are a response to legislation that is not as explicit as it should be,” she said. “This is not by mistake: Congress gets to say we’ve done some things about [an issue]. Then, when the executive branch acts in response to the legislation, they criticize the agency.”

Maybe even Democrats will decide to rein in delegation of its legislative power if they wake up every morning to President Trump.